Meet Gregory Page
Gregory Page will be the opening act for the Jason Mraz Concert on May 31!
I’ve been in music my whole life. And boy have I heard story after story and seen many of them written. One of the coolest stories I’ve ever seen is a story of friendship between Jason Mraz and Gregory Page.
I lived in a neighborhood called Ocean Beach. In that neighborhood was a music venue called Java Joe’s. It offered acoustic based music…and it was a good thing if you got a gig there. As the story goes, the new kid in town from Richmond, Virginia was a guy named Jason Mraz. He showed up to Java Joe’s one night to jump into the scene by participating in their weekly open mic. He was brand-new with no name and nobody knew him. Meanwhile, Gregory Page was in the audience.
Now Gregory is a music staple and household name in the San Diego area, and also throughout northern Europe, where he has toured extensively. I’ve known Greg since about 1987 or ’88 I’m guessing…he was so good. I saw him last year at the San Diego music awards and teased him that they should have an award for him for having won the most San Diego musical awards to date. An incredibly engaging and compelling artist able to make you feel things through song. Sometimes even stuff you didn’t even know about.
Anyway, Page was in the audience that night when Mraz played his first open mic at Java Joe’s. After listening to Jason play a few songs he invited Jason to come back later that week to open Gregory’s show. Boom! And that was it. I’m pretty sure that every day after that was an increase in the acceleration of Mraz’s music to get to where he is today. I personally ran into Jason and met him for the first time about a month later at another venue called Twiggs, where Jason was headlining the show. I checked in with our pal Johnny C., who was running the shows at Twiggs. We were standing outside the venue chatting, and I could hear this music coming out of the room. “Who the heck is that?” I asked. He says “It’s Jason Mraz…have you heard him yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Go stick your head in the door and check it out,” Johnny said.
When I opened the door, the 85 seat listening room was filled with young ladies between 18 and 23 years old all leaning forward in their chair, starry-eyed and glued to Jason. There was a collective thought bubble hanging over the room over each of these young ladies, “I love him!”
Mraz is one charismatic fellow. Great left hand. Brazilian vibe. Voice of an angel and he knows what to do with all of it. A soul that is free. I knew in about 30 seconds I was looking at a huge star. This guy had star quality like I had never seen. Magnetic. I think when I met him for the first time at the end of the gig coming out the front door my words were, “Dude. What are you doing here?” He looked at me funny, “what?” And I told him, “good for you, man you are out of here, inside of a year, I bet.”
It took him three months.
We were acquaintances for a little while. I even got to drink a couple of beers standing at the bar with Jason as we watched Gregory Page rock out with his Wednesday night group the Hatchet Brothers. A lot of the people in the scene had a night off on Wednesdays, so it was always a who’s who down there watching this group. I had a blast at those shows. I actually fell in love with the song, ‘Swingin’ from Tom Petty because of the way Gregory sang and played it.
Okay, so Jason went on and the rest is history. And you all know who he is.
Let’s talk about Gregory Page.
I think you should know Gregory just as much as you know who Jason is.
As a younger man, I remember Gregory playing rock ‘n’ roll with a trio called Baba Yaga, and then the more substantial Rugburns partnering with Steve Poltz (who wrote Jewell’s big hit).
As Gregory’s music interest matured, he focused himself into being the consummate solo artist. A true songwriter.
Now my impression of Gregory all along is that he seems to have one foot stepping into the future while the other foot steps towards the past in a retro way. There’s something modern about his music. There is something hauntingly familiar through retrospection and introspections that have a way of manifesting a sense of another time in an otherworldly dreamlike way.
Still tangible, feeling things like you can touch them. These are the things that make a simple musician become a very compelling artist with a depth of ideas, thoughts, and relevant things to share.
Gregory has toured the world many times. He’s not only been the supporting act for Mraz, but he’s also been the supporting act for Bob Dylan himself.
Page has performed in a wide range of iconic venues such as the London Palladium, The Paradiso in Amsterdam and the Woodford Folk Festival in Australia. With endearing stage presence, evocative lyrics, and a warm voice, Gregory seamlessly draws from imagination and experience transcending traditions of folk, Celtic, American roots Jazz, Ragtime, Blues, Swing, and French Romanticism.
“Gregory Page has the ability to write songs that bring back memories we never had.”
-Mr. Lou Curtiss / Folk Arts Currator
Redbone.
Gregory Page is himself a fan of the late Leon Redbone, whose penchant for weathered but still-vital songs from the 1910s, 1920s and other bygone decades mirrors Page’s affinity for the music of that era. Ditto their stage attire. Granted, Page’s sweet, sonorous tenor sounds quite different than Redbone’s gruff baritone. And Page is as down to earth on stage as Redbone was enigmatic and aloof. But Page’s devotion to Tin Pan Alley chestnuts, ragtime, torch ballads, bluesy laments and light swing romps would surely have made Redbone smile and nod in approval. -George Varga / San Diego Union Tribune
London born, Southern California based Gregory Page is an eclectic, prolific, genre-bending, award winning performing songwriter, balladeer, recording artist, film maker, art activist, music producer and published poet whose music time travels from a distant past to an imagined future.
With an extensive discography, Gregory Page has toured the world many times over from Australia to Europe and Asia having performed in a wide range of iconic venues such as London’s 02 Arena, headlining the main hall at the Paradiso in Amsterdam and international music festivals such as Woodford and Manly.
A third-generation musician, he grew up surrounded by family members who performed and recorded traditional Irish music. His parents were musicians who met while touring with their respective bands, “The Beat Chics” and “The Martians.” With endearing stage presence, evocative lyrics, stunning guitar work and warm voice, Gregory Page seamlessly draws from imagination and experience transcending traditions of folk, Celtic, American Roots, Jazz, ragtime, blues, swing and French Romanticism into his own signature idiom.
“The tightrope my music teeters upon is the struggle between tradition and progress, history and fantasy. I am the songbird and the worm…”
Be sure to check out Gregory at https://www.gregorypage.com/ and be sure to take note when you see him perform May 31 at the Landmark Theatre.
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